


Fast Times at Citadel High

by UraniumFever



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Earthborn Shepard, M/M, dyslexic Shepard, tutor Kaidan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 22:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10885902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UraniumFever/pseuds/UraniumFever
Summary: Shepard was brought to the Citadel as Captain Anderson's adopted son at the age of fifteen.  The Detroit native had always known a life of hardship, having survived in poverty on Earth with no parents and only a gang to call his own.  Now he finds himself in a completely foreign setting with new difficulties: high school.This story follows Shepard as he navigates adolescence, working through relationships and staying afloat with a curriculum he's never known before.  Due to unforeseen circumstances Shepard eventually finds himself failing and only with the help of his friends and a certain attractive tutor can he succeed in passing into the next school year.





	1. Fourth Period: Miss Samara: Literature

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Mass Effect Fic I've been working on for a while. It's gone through a couple stages and I hope people enjoy it - I'm still working on a lot of the story but I really hope I capture the characters in a fun way. I haven't seen a lot of Mass Effect High School AUs so I figured I'd give my go at one!

“I have gone through and read each of your essays,” the older asari woman, clear into her matriarchal stage, thumbed the glowing omni-tool data in her hands, “it would be beneficial if you all reread your writings as well as my comments.”

There were only three minutes remaining until the bell would ring and dismiss its students. While the class was very diverse in terms of alien races, it seemed each reacted similarly to wanting to leave. It wasn’t that Miss Samara was a poor teacher—on the contrary she was many students’ favorite—but rather the young teenagers were growing tired of sitting and wasting their free time trapped at a desk.

“Yes!” A turian near the back cheered for himself as he read the red penned score glowing before him.

“What’d you get, Garrus?” The human sitting next to him leaned over, eyes squinted to spy a number of some kind.

“Ninety-two,” he smiled leaning back into his seat, “now I can relax the rest of the semester.”

The students gathered near each other, having all received seemingly good scores on their reports. Screens lit up as their teacher sent out the data, in general most were pleased - though their were vocal disagreements with some of the comments written over the work. A quarian slid into an empty seat next to the boys in the back.

They wouldn’t be able to tell for sure through the helmet, but both the turian and the human knew she was grinning widely somewhere in there, “And how did you boys do?”

“Probably not as good as you I’m guessing?” Garrus withheld his omni-tool data, not willing to admit defeat just yet.

“Did you get higher than a hundred?” She flashed her arm in the boy’s faces, the orange screen highlighting the perfect score, “I guess Miss Samara really appreciates my explanation for the lack of animal sustenance on the flotilla. I’m not even vegan by choice but I will be for a good essay.”

“Or maybe she just feels bad for the poor quarian girl and all she’s missing out on,” Garrus couldn’t necessarily “smirk” as well as the infamous humans, what with his mandibles and all, but he could come pretty damn close. He casually turned his screen around, showing Tali his paper, “I chose the cop-out topic: defending the turian hierarchy.”

Tali snorted, her filters muffling the sound slightly, “Terrible topic, but at least you passed,” she turned, still riding high on her victory, “Shepard, what did you get?”

The human threw his arms up in a shrug, uncharacteristically silent for the past few minutes, “I didn’t get any data notification back yet, so I don’t know.”

Their chatter continued, as Shepard stared up at the electronic clock. Miss Samara had always been a “by the books” type of teacher which meant absolutely no loosening of the rules: in your desks until the bell sounds off, no leaving early, and no extranet access until the class officially ended. He stood as soon as the hum of the dismissal set in, the other students pushed past him, gathering their data files and dashing off to the next period.

Garrus and Tali waited patiently as Shepard tried to get Miss Samara’s attention. The woman was meditating, her body completely stilled and quiet— only asari could cultivate such focus. Shepard tapped lightly on her desk, clearing his voice, “Um, Miss Samara? I didn’t get my score.”

“I was wondering when you would come talk to me,” her eyes opened gracefully as she quickly moved to the task at hand. She swiped past several files on her wrist before coming across one practically highlighted and flagged in red. Her eyes moved over to the two people still waiting behind Shepard, “Do you two require anything?”

“No, we are just waiting, ma’am,” Tali checked a button on her suit, attempting to navigate the awkwardness in the room—her eyes had betrayed her, and after seeing Shepard’s score, she didn’t quite know how to react.

Miss Samara nodded, “I would like to speak with Mr. Shepard alone, if that is okay. 

“Sure,” Garrus nudged Tali to attention, “We’ll see you in the lunch hall, Shepard.”

He tried to smile but it came out forced. “Save me something that’s not dextro-crap this time.”

The young man could put it off only so long, and eventually he was forced to stare down at his paper, the one he had actually tried on. School was not his favorite thing. He enjoyed learning and actively sought out new topics, but there were elements that drove him to give up. It always seemed his peers excelled in nearly everything while he continued to lag behind.

“Have a seat, Shepard,” her voice was calm, it always was, and for some reason that bothered the human. “This essay,” as she transferred the data of the marked paper to him, “was not poor in content but rather in style and grammar.”

It was a familiar critique, anything that was to be done orally came naturally and easily to Shepard, but having to write it down, having to read and comprehend from a non-verbal thing before him… that’s what troubled him. He scanned over some of the critiques on his essay, needing to revisit them several times before actually understanding what the woman had written.

“Your opinions are always very interesting and I enjoy hearing you defend them,” she looked at him with a certain intensity, “but I do not understand why you verbalize them so poorly on a digital format.”

“It’s just…” he struggled to find the words that would explain the problem, though he wasn’t proud of the truth by any means.

Her manicured finger pointed to a sentence, “Here you spelled 'misread' as 'miss red' and again,” she flipped through the pages with a swipe to show another example, “you wrote 'were as' instead of 'whereas.' I do not understand why you are making some of these errors, Shepard.”

Now that he looked at the words and heard her state the correct spellings it made sense, but that didn’t make it simple. “I had my omni-tool search for mistakes, Miss Samara… I really did try on this paper.”

“I know,” she smiled a moment and it was warm, caring, “I can feel your passion. An omni-tool will only seek out spelling errors, and these are not technically spelling issues in the eyes of the program.”

“It’s,” Shepard sighed, “this is just hard for me.”

Samara gave Shepard all the attention in the world—one of the reasons why so many of her students enjoyed her. “I’ve spoken with some of your other teachers, Shepard. All of them agree you should be receiving higher marks than you are… as it is, however, you are among the lowest scoring students in the school.”

He knew she wasn’t insulting him, but it hurt just the same, “I know…” he shook his head, “It’s a human issue.”

“I’m aware of your past. A notification was sent to your teachers when you entered the school system. You have not had much formal education up to this point,” she seemed to be carefully choosing her words, not wanting to upset the boy, “Some of my coworkers believe that it would be best if you went down to a lower grade level, and from there we could assess better ways for you to catch up to your peers.”

Shepard looked up at his teacher, the one who strived for everyone to be their best and who was now essentially telling him he was too dumb to be in her class. This story was familiar and it would seem no matter how hard he tried he would always have to face it. “I tested into this grade, I did fine on the oral test ” he started rubbing his hands together nervously, “humans can have this problem with reading and writing… and math… and,” he rolled his eyes at himself, “school in general.”

“I would like to work with you,” it was the first thing she said so as to not worry him further, “I think you are very bright and talented. A lower grade would be a disservice to you, so in order for me to help you we must clearly identify the issue.”

“It’s called dyslexia?” He answered her in a tone of questioning, certain she didn't know what that meant.

The woman quickly opened her extranet access, clicking through and downloading several files to read later, “Yes, I am unfamiliar with this. I will have to look into it more, later,” she said as she took note of the clock, “I do not wish to hold you for your lunch period— perhaps we can have a meeting after school to discuss this problem further?”

Shepard stood, not feeling too happy with himself. The grade was blaring at him as he swiped it away. What was so wrong with him that he would get a thirty-seven when his two best friends both received near perfects? He rubbed his head a moment, “I think that’ll be fine,” he set a reminder in his omni-tool. On top of it all he had a tendency to forget due dates, meetings, and other responsibilities.

“Before you leave,” she called to him, her voice still calm, “I must inform you that I will be calling your guardian because of this score, Shepard.” She paused before saying the final condemnation, “You are now failing my class.”

He turned, chewing down on his lower lip. “I know." It wasn’t the fact his foster-father would be called that bothered him— Anderson would hopefully understand—it was more a problem with how poorly he was taking to high school that upset him. The boy sighed before the door opened to his I.D., “Thank you, Miss Samara.”

“My pleasure.”


	2. Fifth Period: Lunch

It had been hard moving to a whole new world. Being adopted at fifteen was no common thing; for many, once a kid passed eight or nine the system tended to forget about you. No family wanted a fully grown “broken” teenager, but Anderson had came into his life unexpectedly and the two had gotten along well. 

There were quite a few rough edges to round out in Shepard, for a while the boy had run with a gang on Earth, nothing too major but enough to mark his record. The day he met his foster father was the day Anderson talked him out of taking a hostage’s life biotically - he hadn’t wanted to kill the bank teller, but it was what the gang asked of him, what the only family that had taken Shepard in wanted. From then on the young man looked to Anderson for everything: support, love, and trust. 

He was desperate for it, a sign he thought made him weak. At only fifteen he took his minimal personal possessions and joined Anderson in court, testifying that the man would make a good foster father - everyone seemed happy, the judge, Anderson and Shepard, the police… but it lasted only so long. Even after moving to the Citadel and into his foster father’s apartment Shepard found greater changes beginning to affect the tide of his life. For the first time he was being forced into the school system, and Anderson had been adamant about it.

That was where Shepard’s lack of previous education and dyslexia came to light. For the first year Anderson had worked with him through specialists, Shepard picked things up quickly, having the capacity to be very intelligent (playing chess or other strategy games with him was always a losing battle for the opponent). It was the little things, the slow reading, the bad handwriting, the almost nonexistent math skills that worried Anderson and frustrated Shepard.

Now at sixteen he was struggling to stay above the rushing current. Some classes were better than others, biology was easy if it was dissection but near impossible if it wanted him to recall terms whereas math and literature were just cruel. He was never a shy kid and easily made friends with the other students, but it was rare to see him answering questions or focusing on anything else but one task of schoolwork.

Shepard shook the thoughts from his mind - rejecting them to catalogs in his head filled with information about his past. He had to look forward, and he had to keep his smile wide - there was still an emotional element to him that caused him to seek out companions and friendships… for them to know there was something wrong with him might mean to lose those people.

Garrus waved him over with a scaly arm, “Shepard, over here.”

He moved over to his last name, the only one he had ever really known. Everyone had always referred to him as just Shepard, therefore he remained just Shepard. Tali moved to the side, allowing the human to slide in. A wide window that revealed the busy Citadel skyline opened next to them.

“I got you some weird brown thing that the lunch lady said was from Earth,” Garrus pushed the tray towards Shepard. He didn’t bother bringing up the essays again, if Shepard wanted to talk about it he would talk about it.

He stared down at the pile of cream before him, “Garrus, you just got me an entire plate of pudding.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What,” Tali shook her head, “what even is that, Shepard?”

He shrugged, “It tastes like chocolate, kinda feels like a gel on your tongue,” he could tell Tali was making a face, “You know it’s a helluva lot better than that disgusting dextro-paste you put into your suit.”

“What?” She tried her hand at sarcasm, “I love my nutri-paste… delicious stuff.”

“One day, Tali’Zorah, they will develop pudding for your tubes and you will thank the humans,” he dug his spoon into the mush anyways. To a teenage boy, a tray of pudding was hardly a meal to reject.

A slim body slid onto the bench next to Garrus, the small girl smiled up at him, though because of the tightly drawn hoodie only her lips were truly visible, “Nice of you all to wait for me.”

Shepard grinned as her mouth made a disgusted face towards his pudding meal, “It’s good for you, Kasumi.”

“You stick with that, Shep, I already ate my dairy-free meal earlier,” she casually moved her head to the side, admiring someone in the distance.

Both Tali and Shepard turned to spot what was so interesting in her eyes, Tali returned first, “Why are you looking at those Cerberus rich kids?”

She hummed to herself, “Not the whole group, just the one…”

“She has a crush on, Jacob,” Shepard decided to solve the mystery for everyone without the long line of questioning that would have taken place, Kasumi shot him a glare, “Maybe if you removed your hood it would have more effect?”

“You’re just jealous of Jacob, I mean, look at that body!”

“Careful, you’ll drool on the table,” Tali nudged Shepard, encouraging their teasing.

“Why are you even interested in those kids, anyways?” Garrus sipped at some turian sports drink as he nodded to the clique, “They only care about themselves… and any group that needs a name like “Cerberus” to make themselves look cool clearly has some self-esteem issues,” he turned to Shepard, “Speaking of which, I think we need to come up with a cool name for our friend group.”

Kasumi shrugged, ignoring the last notion, “They’re the ones who always have the cool parties, and the principal likes them well enough.”

“Ah, Mr. Illusive Man,” Tali brought up her talons to imitate air quotes, “I’m convinced our principal doesn’t even exist.”

“That's not his name, one, and two: he does exist,” Kasumi countered, “And he wrote a pass to Miranda last week so she could skip tech.”

“Can he write me a pass?” Shepard rolled his eyes thinking about the class in question.

Tali turned suddenly, “Oh, that reminds me,” she flashed her omni-tool, “did you need last night’s homework?”

The color drained from the man’s face, “Shit, you’re kidding? We had homework?”

Garrus huffed, “I’m starting to worry about you, Shepard, you never remember anything.”

He shook his head, “I try to put the reminders in my calendar but,” he synched his wrist with Tali, copying the codes, “I’m only human, right?”

Kasumi ignored them, focused on the only thing that mattered in her world, “Hey Shep, have you seen Jacob shower before?” Her hands were folded up neatly beneath her chin, still staring wistfully off towards the “popular” table.

Shepard turned to look at her, to see if she was being serious, “Kasumi, we play biotiball together,” he felt his ears heat up and tried covering it with a laugh, “so yes, I’ve, uh, seen him naked before.”

“When is your next game?” Garrus sat ready to punch in the date and time.

“We’re playing this Saturday, Coach is pretty pumped about this one,” Shepard wiped his lips on a napkin after finishing his plate of pudding.

Tali seemed to have been inching closer to him, “I wish you the best of luck, Shepard, I’m sure you’ll win.”

He laughed, standing to throw his tray away into the decontamination bin, “Thanks, Tali.”

Kasumi shook her head once he sat back down, “It’s really not fair. You guys get to play cool sports like biotiball and biotic gymnastics while us regular people are stuck playing water polo because our gym teacher is a damn hanar.”

“Speaking of which the bell is about to ring for all of us,” Tali nodded to the clock on the far wall as she stood to prepare for the move, “I have to go help that stupid data librarian while you all injure yourselves.”

“Well, not all of us get the chance to use,” Garrus coughed to perfect his imitation of Tali, “our quarian lifestyle as a reason not to participate.”

She moved from the table, no longer wishing to take part in the conversation. Shepard followed afterwards - their respective gym halls were on separate sides of the complex. Nearly all schools separated biotics and non-biotics in their physical education departments, some claimed it was done due to it being unfair but the most accepted reason was to help kids refine their respective skills.

Shepard walked through the halls quietly as they began filling up with students. Two elcor moved in front of him as they exited from the planetarium, their large bodies taking up more space than the hall had to offer. They moved terribly slow causing Shepard, and several other students, to groan in annoyance. 

“Unabashedly: we care not for your perceptions of speed.”

The other one moved his head slightly to add on, “Smugly: we are all going to the same place.”

A student huffed beside him, braving the union as he tried to step between them, “Hey, I really gotta get to the gym. Do you mind stepping aside?”

“Sarcastically: is our speed bothering you?”

“Yes, because a lot of people behind you are trying to get through and you keep blockin-”

“They’re not going to move,” Shepard shook his head, “they do this everyday.”

The man threw up his hands, still clearly fed up and not entirely giving up with his conquest, “Huh. Thanks for the advice.”

“Well,” Shepard shrugged, “you would’ve just driven yourself crazy if I hadn’t told you.”

“Yeah,” he collected himself, shifting towards Shepard after having accepted that the elcor weren’t going to change their speeds any time soon, “Hey, you’re in biotics aren’t you?”

Shepard stared up at the creatures ahead, distracted by their strange bodies - though they didn’t move nearly as awkwardly as hanar did, “Yep, I have class with Miss T'Loak.”

“Had her last year,” he smiled, giving the other human a one over, “ You’re on the Biotiball team, right?”

Shepard looked away a moment, trying to get a sense of the time to make sure he wouldn’t be late to this class again, “Uh, yeah. Coach Wrex… do you play?”

“No, my amp isn’t really made for that type of contact. You’re a vanguard?”

He turned to face the other human, “Mm-hm,” he hummed in approval, “they always have me on offense.”

“I’ve always wanted to play,” he let out a louder than normal, “Finally,” as the elcor turned a different way down the next hall, both he and Shepard picked up their speeds, “Year twelve’s had our biotics last period but I left my water bottle next to my locker… of course I only remembered once I was in my next class.”

Shepard grinned, “Isn’t that how it always is?”


	3. Sixth Period: Miss T'Loak: Biotics

They pushed through the doors and into the locker rooms where a few of Shepard’s classmates were already getting changed. The other human picked up his forgotten item and waved as he started jogging back to his next class.

His locker was one of the higher ones which meant an easier time for Shepard. Most of the volus had claimed the lower ones but every now and then you’d get a shorter alien trying to claim a higher locker due to pride and whatnot. Shepard worked the lock slowly, connecting the codes together. Sometimes he confused the codes and had to look them up on his omni-tool.

Today they clicked open with little hassle. He pulled out the smelly gym shorts and shirt before stripping his current one. The girls locker room always reeked of perfume, but even that would be more tolerable than the stench of teenage boy (and alien) they were forced to breathe in now.

“Hello, Shepard,” the drell beside him smiled but Shepard nearly had a heart attack, he hadn’t seen nor heard the man even enter the room.

He shook it off, “Shit, hi, Thane.”

Thane took the locker next to Shepard, opening it and switching into his gym shirt with the stretched out neckband. He wouldn’t be asked to participate, too many doctors’ notes deeming that not an option, but he was still required to get dressed like everyone else. 

“How are you today?” The man sat down on the bench that ran through the two sets of lockers, exchanging shoes as he waited for a reply.

Shepard didn’t really feel like explaining all of his medical issues, even if he did know more than enough of Thane’s problems. It was different. No one had to guess that Thane was sick or overcoming obstacles since it was a clear, physical problem - dyslexia was not the same thing, to the average eye you just looked stupid for reading too slow or not being able to count without the use of your fingers.

“Are you little shits done changing?” There was a loud knock on the door as the infamous asari found the proper intro to her classic tirade.

“She sounds like she’s in a good mood,” Jacob rolled his eyes, speaking to no one in particular.

The boys slowly began filtering out, each dressed in the same unflattering uniform. Miss T’Loak began separating them into two lines amongst the females already standing there, her purple skin shining nicely as the artificial light from the Citadel poured in. Shepard had only been in the regular, non-biotic gym once but they were each visibly equipped differently. This gym housed several floors beneath it that could be rotated to suit the needs of the class, each floor was then designed with a certain theme or course in mind. The courses then could range from a biotiball set-up, to an arena styled setting for one-on-one sparring.

The latter was the one she would choose as the focus of her class today, she summoned the control panel, pressing in a special teacher’s code. Each student stepped back as the floor rearranged itself, manifesting certain barriers that would serve as end-lines if someone was knocked from the ring.

“Sparring today,” she barely looked up from her omni-tool as she configured the settings, “I don’t want to see any dirty moves, but I do want to see some kick-ass biotics. You’ll be given points if you win and none if you don’t… if you want to walk out of here with a good grade you better put some effort in. You'll be split into defense and offense. Defense, your goal is to protect your flag until the timer goes off. Offense, you need to get that flag before the timer goes off."

“You’re not separating the girls and the boys, right?” A girl with a shaved head, known for her violence, stepped forward, “Because I wanna kick some hairy ass.”

Miss T’Loak smiled approvingly, “Good. I want to see it,” she looked up at the group, “it will be boys and girls mixed today, but I don’t want to see anyone holding back.”

They watched as the ring filled with liftable barrels and several cover locations. It changed week to week but this one seemed more exposed than past formats. Thane moved himself off to the side as Miss T’Loak broadcasted the random generator on the wall.

The VI spoke to them as it picked out names, “Zemeenze T’Haala on defense,” it paused, “versus: Miranda Lawson, offense.”

Several girls began talking amongst themselves, Zemeenze was an asari (a naturally capable race when it came to biotics) but Miranda had been given the best training all her life. It was an interesting combination to say the least. The asari found her cover in an elevated plateau while Miranda took her time getting ready, she walked past Shepard, taking a moment to force eye contact with him.

He stared back, now interested in whatever the rich girl had to prove of herself. A handful of the boys had resorted to sitting on the floor, bored with the assignment as it didn’t involve them. Shepard continued standing and looked on, always intrigued by what people could do with their biotics. Zemeenze let out a loud huff as she started warming herself up, running in place, though everyone knew the match wouldn’t start until Miss T’Loak wanted it to.

“Clean fight girls,” she warned, resulting in a groan from the two competitive women before her, “Hey, I know it sucks but I don’t want to lose my job because one of you goes berserk. Limit the close contact.”

They were two different types of biotics, though Zemeenze was more typical in the adept field. Each girl ignored the things around her, staring only at her opponent. The VI announced the start of the match and the women began. Relentlessly.

Zemeenze was the first to land an attack as each began brewing mass effect fields. The warp broke through Miranda’s shields but left an opening for her to go on. She quickly threw a barrel that landed into the asari. With the girl distracted she was able to round a corner and throw an arced shot over Zemeenze’s cover.

But an asari would not go down so quickly, she spotted the mass effect field and managed to roll out of its path, throwing up a shockwave as retaliation. The class was getting excited watching the girls tear into each other, usually these matches were over quickly - someone forgetting their barrier or a well placed singularity making the fight null.

“Come on Zemeenze!” It was the blood-thirsty woman from earlier, her body covered in far too many tattoos for a sixteen year old, “Kick the cheerleader’s ass!”

Jacob shook his head, “You’ve got this Miranda!”

Miranda was closing in on her target, only a few meters away from a direct hit and nearly through the asari’s flank. She could feel the flag between her fingers, the victory close at hand. Zemeenze tried to pull at Miranda, force her out of cover, but her arch was misplaced and hit only the solid block before her.

With her now in a cooldown period Miranda rushed forth, pushing the girl with a biotically strengthened hand and reaching for the flag just as the VI announced a thirty second remainder. The timer stopped with a loud buzzer, leaving only Miranda to claim her victory.

“So much for asari mastery, huh?” She smirked as she moved away from the girl still clenching her stomach. 

“Miranda, you’re good for today,” Miss T’Loak nodded as she input information into her grading application, “Go get some energy drinks and replenish, Zemeenze when you get your ass off the ground you get some too.”

Everyone stood in a line as they watched the screen light up again to announce the next match. The VI spun repeatedly, symbolizing a waiting screen of some type, the students had no mind for it - they were anxiously waiting for their names to be called (or not be called).

“Jennifer Naught,” the VI droned out the name, “defense.”

“It’s just Jack, you piece of shit machine!” The girl stepped forward, her gym uniform nearly in shreds on her body, “and why the hell does it have me on defense?”

Miss T’Loak shook her head, amused by Jack’s fire, “You’re arguing with a VI.”

“Versus,” it began again, every student now wondering if they’d be forced to battle with the appropriately nicknamed Subject Zero. The machine stuttered, making an out of place mechanical noise, “-perd, offense.”

Everyone tried to make out the name but couldn’t quite place it, they turned to their teacher who was already working on fixing the error, “Shepard you’re up.”

The man rolled his arms, acknowledging Thane as the drell gave him a thumbs up for good luck. Jack ran to her spot, eager to fight. It was hard for her usually, being in a place that didn’t condone senseless violence.

“Hey,” Miss T’Loak stopped Shepard before he entered the arena, “watch the close contact.”

It was a common warning given to Vanguards, they were known for being vicious bruisers when it got down to close fights. He and Jack exchanged a smile knowing they would each enjoy the battle, they never talked much in this class, but both were familiar with the other since their grades placed them in “special groups” together. Even if they didn’t verbalize where or what they came from, they both acknowledged that the other’s past had been less than ideal.

Where most kids were average or slightly above average at everything, Shepard and Jack differed. Their scores would see them spiking dramatically unbalanced ranges, like a paradox of a person, practically perfect in one area but disastrously lacking in another. But this was something each of them were good at, biotics came naturally to both and it was something they relied on as it was one of the only things that brought them solid accomplishments.

“Bring it on, boy scout!”

“Trash talk already?” Shepard feigned hurt, “You wound me, Jack.”

She spat, but the smile was still in her eyes, “I haven’t even started and your pussy-ass is already wounded?”

The VI interrupted their dialogue with a sound of its own: the match had begun.

Jack started out ruthlessly, throwing up her barrier as she pounded the man with a shockwave. The heavy hitting biotics came in a quick succession, but Shepard held off the impact for the most part with his cover absorbing the hit.

“You want a shockwave battle?” He threw up his arms as he forced his own wave, “Let’s start one!”

The tattooed woman hopped from cover with a grin - it was a nice change of pace, facing someone who actually offered her a challenge. She retaliated by aiming for the area next to Shepard so he’d be forced to his side, giving her a clear shot to take out his shields.

They were likely the only two in the class who had actual combat experience, and perhaps it wasn’t coincidence they were paired together. Shepard rolled from the attack as it inched past him, he continued pressing forward. She began toying with him as she got her shot and depleted his shields.

Every time he tried to near and fall into a different cover to replenish she popped a light matter particle at him, causing him to fall back. She looked at him innocently as he glared, “What’s a matter? Where’d your shields go?”

He smiled, as he leaned on a half-wall a moment, “You’re right, I need my shields back…” her face changed as he said the words, figuring what he meant only a moment too late, “only one way to do that.”

The biotics charged through his body as he propelled himself into Jack’s body, covering the distance easily with his speed. He crashed with a heavy hit to her stomach, causing her to stumble for a few moments as he moved forward towards her flag.

“Hey!” She collected herself, though left the anger intact, as she grabbed his body with a forceful pull, “I will destroy you!”

He felt his body being drifted away from him, so he channeled his own biotics with hers allowing himself to slam into her once more. Jack’s fist lit with blue energy as she plowed right into his face. He was forced back, flinching from the attack that would bruise tomorrow. The woman smiled triumphantly, wrongly assuming Shepard wouldn’t retaliate.

“We’re playing this game?” Shepard wasn’t angry, but he would push Jack back for hitting him like that. He grabbed her shoulder, holding her down with a weaker singularity - Vanguards were never too good at the “pure” biotics. His hand raised, aiming for areas that would bruise but not break ribs or other bone. 

She bit back at him, with actual teeth, as he slammed into her with hand-to-hand biotics. Her body glowed as she tried to bring back her barrier, but he merely hit the manifest nodules and shattered it once more.

“Get the fuck off!” She summoned a wave of energy to crash into Shepard, which was effective in getting his hands off of her tiring body, “Shit!”

“Keep it clean, Shepard!” Miss T’Loak gave him a stern look as he waited for his cooldown.

He cracked his knuckles as he reached for the unprotected flag, only to be tackled by the smaller woman from the side. They fell into the ground, Shepard’s heavier body taking the brunt of the impact, Jack rolled on top of him, practically mounting him as she struck into him with her fists. Left, right, the attacks were unrelenting. 

Blood from a bit lip or tongue, he couldn’t tell just yet, began filling in Shepard’s mouth as she continued bruising his face. He lifted his arms, ready to throw her off as he uppercutted the woman’s chin, intentionally forcing a fat lip on her side. Where one would break off to rest the other would start the onslaught again. Eventually Shepard’s eye began to swell as he laid into Jack’s already bruised chest.

It took an immensely powerful mass effect blast to get them off of each other. Miss T’Loak was furious as she pulled them both up with her own biotics, “You two are in so much fucking trouble,” she turned to both of them, never once letting her intensity die down, “I’ve been calling for you to stop for a whole fucking minute. Stand down!”

Shepard rolled his shoulders, spitting out a mouthful of blood to the group as he looked back at Jack with a smirk. She was smiling too, this was how they let it out, all the pain, all the pent up frustration. Both were willing to be each other’s punching bags so long as they got to lay into them as well.

“Good fight, Shepard!” Jack smiled, a swollen lip making even that look strange.

Miss T’Loak practically growled, when the woman didn’t think she had your attention she was a menace, “You are both,” she angrily began typing into her omni-tool, “getting detention for this! I will not have it!”

Shepard moaned, “No, come on, Miss T’Loak! I have a meeting with Miss Samara after school and I can’t not show up.”

“You should have thought about that before you disobeyed my goddamn rules and pulverized each other!” She shook her head, her anger still unforgiving, “Get to the showers! I don’t even want to look at either of you.”


	4. Hall Pass: Nurses Office

Jack waited until the woman was completely gone and focused on the next match before snickering with Shepard, “Oh no, I got the boy scout in trouble!”

Shepard fell into one of the stands, accepting the high-calorie sports drink Jack was offering him, “That was good,” he nodded as if agreeing with himself and let out a heavy breath, “that was a real good fight.”

The woman mused next to him, “A lot of this biotic shit is crap - pulls barely work in the real world.”

“Exactly! We should be doing the close combat - not stopping it! No one’s going to wait for you to cool down if you’re caught out there.”

Thane sat down quietly into the stand beside him, “Are you hurt?”

Shepard turned, “No, I’m fine… call me a masochist but being hurt every now and again feels good.”

Jack shook her head, groaning, “You’re a masochist… this doesn’t feel good at all.”

Shepard clapped her on the shoulder, mindful of the welts, “Sorry, Jack.”

“Don’t you dare apologize,” she laughed.

All three heads turned to see Miranda walking towards them, her saunter reflective of her personality: cold and calculated but daringly graceful. She offered a small smile, “I love watching you fight, Shepard. It’s always something to behold.”

“I hold back usually, but Jack can take it.”

Miranda frowned, disgusted by Jack’s mere presence but choosing to ignore it for the conversation’s sake, “Well, I just wanted you to know I’d be having a party this Saturday, and I’d like to invite you.”

“I’d love to show up,” Jack grinned, trying to egg Miranda on. The two had always hated each other, though the exact reasons of “why” were unknown (perhaps even to the females themselves). In conclusion, there just wasn’t any good blood there.

“Sorry,” her Australian accent was heavy, “I only invited Shepard… and it’s a human only part anyways. I’m convinced you’re not even one of us, Jack.”

“What, not a selfish cunt?” She pretended to think to herself, “You’re right that’s not me.”

“Charming as ever I see,” she turned back to Shepard, “So what will it be?”

He flicked through his omni-tool, the calendar words mushed together and it was difficult to make sense of what it all meant. His finger tapped on Saturday, illuminating the box and letting it appear larger, it took longer than most people would take but he got there, “I have a biotiball game.”

“Well, of course - everyone will be at the game. It’s going to be afterwards.”

Shepard tried to give a smile but the pain in his face pounded that idea away. His hand instinctively fled to his jaw, nursing it as it rolled past the rough spot, “Holy shit.”

“You should go down to the nurse and put some ice on that,” Miranda leaned down slightly, to look directly at Shepard’s bruised face, “especially your eye - it’s already starting to swell.”

Jack snorted, “What, are you trying to rebuild him or something?” Her humor left as quickly as it manifested, “Why don’t you go back to your little friends and leave us alone… we’re more than capable of getting ourselves to the clinic.”

Miranda responded with only a roll of her eyes, leaving Jack, Thane, and Shepard alone on the benches. Shepard kept his smile at bay as he turned to his two companions, “So are we all going on a little field trip through the school?”

They each seemed to be waiting for the other to move, Thane offered Shepard a hand, “I will accompany you if it would help.”

“I’m not limping or anything,” he waved the man away but still accepted the drell’s presence, “but if you want to wander around with us it could be fun.”

He smiled slightly, “If it doesn’t bother you I’d rather sit here and study yesterday’s science vocabulary.”

They supplied a farewell to each other as Jack and Shepard slipped back into the locker rooms - they were empty now, meaning the pair could walk through freely without admonishment. Shepard stopped at his locker, grabbing the change of clothes, “I don’t think we’re coming back.”

“Fuck no,” Jack turned away as the man stripped off his shirt, now stained with her own blood. Her wrist began to blink as she opened the pending notification that had begun to signal, “Guess T’Loak wasn’t lying about the detention thing.”

Shepard was still caught in his shirt as he tried to slide it back on over his head, “Oh, she sent the official declaration?”

Jack spun around, “Yea-” catching an eyeful of Shepard’s half-naked body. She tilted her head as she observed the strangest thing about the man. One tattoo. Only one tattoo was painted on his skin, a gang symbol of some sort, which was more than she had ever expected to see on the guy everyone went on about like he was some big saint. She observed the man carefully, “What’s the big “R” for?”

He held the shirt in his hand before pulling it all the way down, following down to where her eyes were glued: the red letter on the side of his ribs. It wasn’t obnoxious but the quality was clearly amature, the person who did it didn’t even have a real kit to begin with. Shepard ran his finger over it, the bumpy texture marring his body in more than just color, remembering the day, remembering how long he had now tried to forget that life, “It’s, um, from a group I ran with a while ago,” he traced the letter that was meant to symbolize their graffiti tag, “the Tenth Street Reds?”

She looked back to Shepard’s face, studying the weird kid that everyone knew so little about. Some said he was smart, others an idiot. He was strong but he also tried not to be cocky. He’d go out of his way to help someone but then admit to being in a gang. Jack felt awkward standing there, he wasn’t going to reply - it was like he was waiting for some type of response, “Uh, nice, yeah I have tattoos too.”

He looked at her incredulously, “Clearly.” 

Shepard threw on his shirt leaving the boy’s locker room and heading for the girl’s as Jack took off her own shredded garment, she didn’t seem to care that she was flashing a teenage boy - but to his part Shepard didn’t give her quite the response she had expected. She pointed to a couple of big ones, the ones that meant things he would understand, “I did the gang thing for a while too, but… well if you're telling the truth then you know about that life already,” she shook her head, she wouldn’t let him see her weak or getting sentimental, “this one was done by a batarian who said he’d do it for free after we fucked.”

“Nice,” Shepard smiled politely. 

Jack had always held this opinion of Shepard - that he was fake and belonged with the Cerberus crowd, but maybe he was just in the habit of putting up these fronts like she was. No one could be trusted, especially in the world’s they had grown up in, “Yeah, you told us last summer about life on Earth. Pretty different from what they show in the vids I’m guessing.”

He dipped his head to look her in the eye, “It really depends on where you are. They advertise Earth as being this land of opportunity - and it kinda is,” he watched Jack as she changed into her other clothes, “but you have to be willing to get your hands dirty to truly experience it.”

“Alright, enough of this pussy shit,” she slammed the locker door shut, “Let’s get patched up.”

Shepard led the way, stretching his back as best he could as they sauntered through the halls. Near the front of the building they ran into several younger students, working on a project outside of a classroom. They gasped as Jack and Shepard walked past in all their injured glory, the two humans eating it up. Most classes, while in theory were meant to be diverse, were actually quite segregated. Whatever lesson they passed on their way to the clinic must have dealt with Salarians, either history or specific biology, since a majority were of that race.

You didn’t see Quarians taking levo-protein home economics just as you wouldn’t see many humans studying Turian pre-spaceflight history.

“Hey, Shepard,” Jack tilted her head towards a different hallway, “It’s quicker this way.”

The school was large, and it had to be to accommodate species who varied so immensely in size and need. There were several schools on the Citadel, this being the largest and only public one. Most students in the public schools didn’t get to see the private ones, the ones where dignitaries and ambassadors sent their kids but the sports teams got to travel around.

Generally, the private schools were more limited: less students, usually all one race and remote. They were also ridiculously expensive, two of them were stationed on the Presidium itself. But they did all come together for certain events like the biotiball games and art shows.

Jack held the door open for Shepard, an unusual pleasantry for her, as they greeted the nurse with their bruised faces. It took Nurse Chakwas a moment, her nose buried in some magazine featuring colony developments, but once her eyes skimmed to the next page she caught sight of the young biotics before her.

She raised an eyebrow, “What happened here?”

“I ran into a door,” Jack cocked her head to the side, “can’t you tell?”

Shepard tried not to laugh, shaking his head instead, “We got a little rowdy in biotics class,” he threw up his hands, “Miss T’Loak already punished us, but we might need some ice.”

The nurse stood and unlocked the large refrigerator beside her - it held everything one could need to help pubescent species of any type. She moved through the metal contraption, certain ice was kept differently than others, often this was done for aliens who required ice closer to their natural habitats for optimal comfort. Along the shelves were different medicines, none could be given without parental permission but there were painkillers that could help hanar aches and cause rectal bleeding in batarians, needless to say the heavy lock on the door was required.

“Here we are,” she returned with a small kit for human needs, a typical first aid set, “who is going first?”

“I just want ice,” Jack backed away, “I don’t want no doctor coming towards me with anything.”

Shepard sat in the chair the nurse had provided, “Jack, she’s not going to kill you… I think that might be illegal if she did.”

“I’m not taking any chances,” she folded her arms, not budging.

“Well, guess it’s just you, Shepard,” Nurse Chakwas cared for each of her charges, regardless of what it was, cramps, headaches, skipping class - she knew Shepard particularly well from the last one as she was one of the few staff members who knew of Shepard’s unique learning problem, “I’m going to clean some of these scratches and rub a bit of medi-gel into the cuts.”

“Sounds good, doc,” Shepard joked, not pretending to understand everything she was doing with him. Jack slid a chair over to him, just to watch in case the woman attempted murder.

Her hands were swift and thorough, several of the lighter marks gone in seconds as she pressed into them with the cure-all. She was careful around Shepard’s jaw, a large bruise already forming, “Hopefully this isn’t a contusion.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed at the word, “What the hell does that mean?”

“It would just mean the bruise would last a long time, regardless,” the doctor poured ice into a small bag manufactured for the purpose, “you should watch the foods you eat, Shepard, opening your jaw too wide will cause pain for a while.”

“Ha!” Jack nudged him with an evil grin, “Guess that means no sucking dick for you?”

He rolled his eyes at the poor joke, unamused, “Very funny.”

Nurse Chakwas ignored them, “The ice pack is for your eye, it should help calm down the swelling. If you need anything else throughout the day, Shepard, don’t hesitate to ask,” she looked over Jack one more time, handing her a single ice pack as well, “Are you sure I can’t offer you any more assistance? Even some medi-gel would help stop the bruise on your collar bone.”

“I like bruises and scars,” she spat as she turned with Shepard at her heel.

The next class change was already taking place as the pair exited into the less frequented hallway. Shepard casually pinned the woman against the wall, “Can I talk to you for a second, Jack?”

She pushed at his heavy body, flinching as some of the ice dripped onto her bare skin, “What the fuck, get off of me!”

He moved to give her more space, but his eyes kept her in place, “That comment you made…”

“What? The sucking dick one? Was it a lie?” She smirked, feeling good that the comment had bothered, “I don’t think so.”

Carefully, he looked around, this hallway was at least still somewhat sparse of people, “I don’t know what you saw but you can’t go around telling people that,” he pressed into her, this time getting no response, “Seriously, do not tell people, Jack.”

“Why?” She cocked her head, moving slightly from his grasp, “People don’t have to try that hard to figure it out,” the woman shrugged as if it were nothing, “I’ve slept with girls and no one gives a shit.”

He stepped away, running his free hand through his hair, “It’s something I don’t want to deal with, and you barely even know me.”

“People grow close in summer school,” that damn curve of her lips was beginning to piss Shepard off, why couldn’t she just understand this was something even he couldn’t fully make sense of? Jack let out a small snort, “I mean that’s clear between you and Grunt.”

Shepard clenched his fist, feeling his anger get the better of him, “Jack for fuck’s sake just shut up about it! It was…” he didn’t know how to voice it, “I was--”

“--Shepard,” she interrupted, eyes slightly focused on the floor as she let her small sympathies for the man play forth, “I’ll try to stop making the jokes,” grin on lips, “but no promises.”

He sighed, the list of things wrong with him was long enough - not really being attracted to females was something he wasn’t ready to add to it, “Thanks…” the pack of ice was beginning to be too much on his eye, “We should probably get to class, but thanks, Jack.”

“Anytime, Shepard,” it took little effort for her to begin her exit in the halls, “see you in detention.”


	5. Seventh Period: Miss Edi: Tech

Shit. He had already forgotten about his punishment, but what he was more focused on was his next class. Another lesson he was horrendously poor in. Luckily, he had it with Tali who was always more than willing to let him copy or cheat off of. To her, a quarian who was taught electronics and tech from birth, the class was a joke and while she didn’t know Shepard’s exact “issues” she always had a feeling humans were bad in general.

Shepard found his school locker, quickly pressing the buttons - school locks could be whatever you wanted unlike the gym ones. For his, Anderson had found a lock that didn’t rely on number codes, instead it had color blocks that had to be pressed in a certain order. Redgreenbluepurpleblue - a chant he would tell himself when learning how to use it, one he rarely had to call on now.

He looked to his left as a figure appeared to the locker next to him, a human like Shepard, sporting an ironic baseball hat and a juvenile beard that was typical of his character. Joker grabbed his datapads and shut the door, waiting for Shepard as he usually did at this time of day, “Am I allowed to ask what happened to your face?” He leaned in to whisper, “Did your alien friends finally snap? Krogan headbutt? Asari kick? Turian bite?”

A light chuckle was all Shepard was willing to put forward to that leg of the conversation. He didn’t know exactly how his face looked, but it probably wasn’t too pretty, “Subject Zero happened.”

Joker threw up his arms, “Hey, that’s what you get for messing with crazy chicks like Jack,” he scratched his head as he rounded out to a new topic, “So, you ready to see the fine as all hell motherboard?”

Shepard scrunched his nose at that, getting out last week’s tech datapad himself, “I think you’re the only one who finds our teacher attractive, Joker.”

The man picked up his crutches and followed Shepard down the hall, tsking at his shortsightedness, “She’s the ideal, Shepard. This school is all scales and craziness, beautiful babe like Ms. Edi is just what we need to pretend things are normal.”

“She’s your teacher,” Shepard stared at Joker as they entered the classroom.

“That’s all irrelevant...” he paused as he caught sight of said robotic teacher standing over a student’s desk, metallic body posed somewhat erotically. Joker hobbled past her to get to his seat, making an obscene gesture as he “accidentally” rubbed against her, winking to Shepard.

The machine immediately spun around, her voice stern, “Jeff.”

Shepard watched with a laugh to himself as Joker attempted play up his crutches in hopes of not getting caught. He tried thinking of something extra witty to throw out there but it didn’t come quick enough as Tali was already filling the place by his side.

She nearly screamed when she caught sight of his face, a talon shot immediately to his cheek, “What happened, Shepard? Who did this to you?”

“It’s fine,” he grabbed her hand gently and pulled it from his face, “It’s really okay, Tali. Biotics was a little rough today.”

But she wouldn’t relent, not when her best friend’s safety and wellbeing was at risk, “Tell me who is responsible. I will make sure they’re eating from a tube before the end of the da--”

“Tali,” he smiled at her, those bright white human teeth gleaming, and she felt herself go silent, “it’s really okay, I swear. I don’t need my favorite quarian getting all worked up over me.”

Keelah, if he could see into her helmet she might be more embarrassed and flustered by his words. She struggled to gather herself and lower her voice to an acceptable level, “So, Shepard,” her mask was pointed directly towards him, analyzing everything about his face, “Can we be lab partners today?”

“Sure, Tali,” he threw his arm around her, a typical human gesture, as they moved to the free desk in the back.

Joker began chewing his gum loudly in response, “Shepard’s going to get it,” he quipped.

“More than you can ever hope for,” he snapped back with a grin.

Tali turned her head slightly as Shepard’s arm left her, “Oh, wow,” her voice seemed strained through the filters, “Is… is it hot in here… or… my suit… I…”

“You alright, Tali?” Now Shepard was bearing into her, eyes wide and full with concern, “I can help take you to the nurse?”

“No, no,” she waved him away, turning conveniently to pull out her datapad, “I’m quite fine, Shepard.”

“I will now begin your lesson,” Ms. Edi stood still a moment, moving the electronics of the room with her body’s control. The lighting darkened as she opened a hologram on her desk, “Today I will be instructing you on the Quantum VI Interface that you will be tested on engineering next Tuesday.”

Shepard casually looked around the room, noting that every student seemed to be scribbling on their omni-tools as the woman spoke. He couldn’t make sense of it enough to write anything down, the words all jumbled together coupled with the strange hand movements Ms. Edi would make over her desk to move the object display.

“The fiber optics on a primitive quarian ship would be more efficient than what she’s using,” Tali whispered this joke to Shepard quietly, trying to hold in her own giggling as if it was the most humorous thing in the world. 

He laughed awkwardly hoping to appear as if he was in on the joke, “Yeah…”

The ice Shepard had been holding against his eye was beginning to be more hassle than it was worth, in response he placed it on the metal desk before him, watching as the water raced down the curved edges. Each stream bent in a different direction: to the floor, his lap, the divot in the table.

“...And that is why this interface is particularly more useful when used in a system containing five or more planets.”

He placed his finger in one of the streams, letting it caress the digit as he swirled it delicately, admiring its trace of droplets. It was far more interesting than the nonsense being spewed before him. He never understood why he had to learn about technology when he held no personal stake in it - he figured he’d always have a Tali, someone who could do it for him.

“Because where would it be more efficient, then? On which planet?” Ms. Edi had begun stalking the room, this was a newer program of her’s, she had realized more students paid attention if she gave them personal attention, “Mr. Shepard?”

“What?” He looked up quickly, scratching the back of his neck on instinct, “What… was the question?”

“The planet the Quantum VI Interface would work best on when paired with an efficient modeling format would be...?”

All eyes were on him, waiting for his answer. He hated this. Hated having everyone’s attention when he wasn’t good at something. They would laugh if he got it wrong, they’d done it before… and he wasn’t paying attention, he couldn’t even make an educated guess.

“Kepler Verge,” Tali whispered, she couldn’t just give him the answer right there without being called out as a know-it-all, she hoped all Shepard needed was a reminder.

“Um, Kepler Verge,” he said somewhat confidently.

Ms. Edi lowered her brows as far as her function would allow, “Yes, we are speaking of the Kepler Verge… I believe I asked for a planet.”

Some of these students had been memorizing the stars from before he was born. If it had been the Sol System maybe he could have guessed it, but whatever she was asking him was beyond his knowledge. He shook his head, reaching for a random guess he knew was wrong, “Uh… Virmire?”

Then the laughter and snickering began, it was such a ridiculous answer that even some of the other students who were also poor in the class found it funny. He couldn’t stop the heat that embraced his face at the arrival of embarrassment.

“Mr. Shepard, Virmire isn’t even in the Kepler Verge. Why would you choose it?”

He whipped his head around to face Tali for help, shaking his head desperately towards her.

“Matol, Matol,” she said the word rapidly, still trying to keep her voice down.

“Matol!” Shepard said louder than he intended, “I, uh, yes… the planet Matol would be ideal for… scientific reasons that… help with... VI entanglement?” 

Ms. Edi moved back to the front of the classroom, resuming her teaching with little delay. It wasn’t in her programing to humiliate the man further. Shepard sank back into his seat, the joke on him forgotten before it even started - but it still hurt, every time it happened he felt terrible and stupid. Tali kicked his foot to regain his attention.

“I really wish you could see my face Shepard, I wish I could convey my concerns to you and not resort to elcor language…” it was a slight joke told through a worried whisper, “but are you alright, Shepard? You seem a bit distracted.”

“It’s fine… it’s just been a long day.”

And it really had been. Most school days were uneventful compared to this mess of a time Shepard found himself in. The rest of Tech passed by normally, with Ms. Edi collecting their assignments and creating new files for them to complete. He knew already he would fail her test and felt like giving up already, submitting to his fate.

She didn’t bother him again that entire period, even with Tali obviously doing most of the work on their in-class assignment. All Shepard did (and all he felt he could do) was offer unhelpful dialogue as she played with the scrap tech. Maybe that’s all he was good for, anyways, regardless of what other people thought.

When the class signaled its end Shepard almost forgot to say goodbye to Tali, they didn’t have any other classes together for the rest of the day. She went off to quarian economics while he made his way to the library. His free period was one of the few saving graces he had throughout the day.


End file.
